Cologne (SID) – The basketball players of FC Bayern again just missed the first jump to the Final Four of the EuroLeague. Coach Andrea Trinchieri’s team lost the decisive fifth quarterfinals at last year’s finalists FC Barcelona 72:81 (37:31) and thus the best-of-five series 2:3. In the last season, the Munich team were unfortunately eliminated in five games in the round of eight. No German club has ever made it to the final tournament.
Almost exactly a year to the day after the bitter failure at Armani Milan in Italy, when an 89:92 in game five meant the end, Bayern lost to the main round winners Barcelona after a drop in performance in the second half. Another success for the Catalans after the coup in the second duel of the series (90:75) seemed possible for a long time.
Due to the defeat in the Palau Blaugrana, Bayern failed to get a ticket for the final tournament in Belgrade (May 19-21). Before Barca, defending champions Anadolu Istanbul had qualified with German international Tibor Pleiss and top Spanish club Real Madrid. Olympiakos Piraeus and AS Monaco determine the last participant.
“The most important thing is that we’re here,” Trinchieri said before the game at MagentaSport, emphasizing again that Barcelona were the big favourites. But four days after the victory in the local Audi Dome (59:52), through which they had forced the fifth duel, the Munich team initially set the tone.
After an 11:0 run it was 15:9 (7th minute), Barcelona hardly scored anything, Bayern took advantage of the weakness and went into the break with a small cushion. A higher leadership would have been quite possible.
In the third quarter the picture changed completely, suddenly the Spaniards dominated, made up for the deficit and for the first time ten points clear (58:48/30.). The game section went to the Catalans with 29:15. The Bavarians around top scorer Othello Hunter (18 points) tried in vain, Barca no longer allowed tension to arise. Munich was the first Bundesliga team to make the play-offs last year.
